3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

My house is in an area with weak ATT signal. However tower signal is not completely unavailable.

With the microcell, I frequently find that call signal gets worse during a microcell call. It appears this is caused by calls being handed over to a nearby tower, the signal quailty of which is questionable.

The microcell is apparently designed not to take over a call established with a cell tower, but it will hand over to nearby tower when you leave the microcell coverage area. THIS MAKES NO SENSE! If anything it needs to be the other way around.

The way it is microcell will defer whenever my phone detects some distant tower signal, causing my call quality to deteriorate, but the phone would not switch back to microcell.

I need the microcell to be DOMINANT and NOT DEFER to inferior cell towers.

IF for some reason deferring to towers makes sense to some people, then there needs to be an option so people can choose.

Please pay attention, AT&T. I've owned the microcell since it first became available in my area, nearly a year ago. It's been torture. I don't understand why I even pay for a microcell to not work for me. Very disappointed.

Re: 3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

I completely agree. I could have written your entire post. My native coverage is bad and has been for at least 5 years. (I can hear the freeway, but have little or no signal?) In my case when the calls try to hand off, they drop. ATT knows the signal is bad at my house, they gave me a Microcell (after I bought one) I'm sure Cisco developed a good product that some twits with control issues decided to ruin with restrictions. I am not expecting my Microcell to cover my neighborhood and interfere with the towers, but is it too much to ask for it to cover my little house? I'd get several to cover the shop and garage as well, but Microcells do not hand off to each other. They just hand off to the weak or nonexistant Macrocells.

Re: 3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

This issue just started for me last night and occurred several times today after about 2 months of excellent MicroCell service. I've had zero issues with mine. Allegedly they're going to improve the coverage in my area. I guess that means this will happen more often.

Re: 3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

Have you tried locating your MC in an area of your house with the worst macro cell coverage to see if that makes a difference whether calls get handed over as often? I use powerline ethernet adapters so that I can put the MC in the center of my house. Finding a GPS signal anywhere in my house has not been a problem, but switching to a macro cell mid-call appears to be reduced.

Re: 3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

Well, I tried that for a couple of weeks. (placing the Microcell in a bad native coverage spot) All I got was dropped calls in areas the Microcell used to work. One of my problems is that ATT seems to be trying to upgrade their service around me. Not good enough to actually be useable mind you, but just better enough to make my Microcell weak.

Re: 3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

Same problem here.

I have places in my house where the ATT tower signal wil get to 3 bars and others where the signal is 0-1 bars. The MicroCell works great unless I get too close the the stronger ATT tower signal in which case it switches over and I drop the call.

I only have a single internet CAT5 connection in my house so moving my MicroCell is not really any option.

Does anyone know if there is a way on the phone to prioritize tower conncections? i.e. ALWAYS use the MicroCell when it is in range and ignore all other potential signals?

Re: 3G Microcell should not handover to nearby tower

Yes, powerline adapters do induce some latency, but I have used a pair from Netgear with my MicroCell when I was experimenting with various locations around our house and results were satisfactory.

Some of how well powerline adapaters work probably depends on the powerline they're used on...how much noise on the line, etc. My suggestion was just that...a suggestion. It may be worth a try....or not.